Mr. Speaker, Beijing's foreign interference is the biggest threat to the security of Canada; that is what the Prime Minister told Canadians last spring. Less than a year later, the Prime Minister has entered into a so-called strategic partnership with Beijing, yet we still have no foreign influence transparency registry.
When the bill was being debated, the government said it hoped to have the registry up and running in 12 months, ahead of a federal election. It is now 19 months and one election later, and there is still no registry. Another election could pass without the protection of a registry. One wonders if the government delayed the registry until now to avoid offending Beijing's leadership, and for the same reason Liberal MPs were told recently to cut short their trip to Taiwan.
Canadians deserve a government that treats foreign interference seriously as a threat to our national security. The government needs to implement the foreign influence transparency registry now.